"... This paper presents evidence that “social capital ” matters for measurable economic performance, using indicators of trust and civic norms from the World Values Surveys for a sample of 29 market economies. Memberships in formal groups—Putnam’s measure of social capital—is not associated with trust o ..."

This paper presents evidence that “social capital ” matters for measurable economic performance, using indicators of trust and civic norms from the World Values Surveys for a sample of 29 market economies. Memberships in formal groups—Putnam’s measure of social capital—is not associated with trust or with improved economic performance. We find trust and civic norms are stronger in nations with higher and more equal incomes, with institutions that restrain predatory actions of chief executives, and with better-educated and ethnically homogeneous populations. I.

"... Scholars of the theory of the firm have begun to emphasize the sources and conditions of what has been described a s "the organizational advantage, " rather than focus on the causes and consequences of market failure. Typically, researchers see such organizational advantage a s accruing fr ..."

Scholars of the theory of the firm have begun to emphasize the sources and conditions of what has been described a s &quot;the organizational advantage, &quot; rather than focus on the causes and consequences of market failure. Typically, researchers see such organizational advantage a s accruing from the particular capabilities organizations have for creating and sharing knowledge. In this article we seek to contribute to this body 01 work by developing the following arguments: (1) social capital facilitates the creation of new intellectual capital. (2) organizations. a s institutional settings. a re conducive to the development of high levels of social capital. and (3) it is because of their more dense social capital that firms. within certain limits. have a n advantage over markets in creating and sharing intellectual capital. We present a model that incorporates this overall argument in the form of a series of hypothesized relation-ships between different dimensions of social capital and the main mechanisms and processes necessary for the creation of intellectual capital. Kogut and Zander recently have proposed &quot;that a firm be understood a s a social commu-nity specializing in the speed and efficiency in the creation and transfer of knowledge &quot; (1996: 503). This is an important and relatively new perspective on the theory of the firm currently being formalized through the ongoing work of

"... This study examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social network site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital. In addition to assessing bonding and bridging social capital, we explore a dimension of social capital that assesses one’s ability to stay connecte ..."

This study examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social network site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital. In addition to assessing bonding and bridging social capital, we explore a dimension of social capital that assesses one’s ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited community, which we call maintained social capital. Regression analyses conducted on results from a survey of undergraduate students (N = 286) suggest a strong association between use of Facebook and the three types of social capital, with the strongest relationship being to bridging social capital. In addition, Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.

...tly associated with measures of social capital. Literature Review Social Capital: Online and Offline Social capital broadly refers to the resources accumulated through the relationships among people (=-=Coleman, 1988-=-). Social capital is an elastic term with a variety of definitions in multiple fields (Adler & Kwon, 2002), conceived of as both a cause and an effect (Resnick, 2001; Williams, 2006). Bourdieu and Wac...

...ties as well as benefits bothsfor the focal actor and for others (we discuss thesesdisutilities in a subsequent section).sSecond, like other forms of capital, social capi-stal is both "appropriable" (=-=Coleman, 1988-=-) ands"convertible" (Bourdieu, 1985). Like physical capi-stal, which can typically be used for different pur-sposes (albeit not necessarily equally efficiently),ssocial capital is appropriable in the ...

"... The processes by which communities come together, attract new members, and develop over time is a central research issue in the social sciences — political movements, professional organizations, and religious denominations all provide fundamental examples of such communities. In the digital domain, ..."

The processes by which communities come together, attract new members, and develop over time is a central research issue in the social sciences — political movements, professional organizations, and religious denominations all provide fundamental examples of such communities. In the digital domain, on-line groups are becoming increasingly prominent due to the growth of community and social networking sites such as MySpace and LiveJournal. However, the challenge of collecting and analyzing large-scale timeresolved data on social groups and communities has left most basic questions about the evolution of such groups largely unresolved: what are the structural features that influence whether individuals will join communities, which communities will grow rapidly, and how do the overlaps among pairs of communities change over time? Here we address these questions using two large sources of data: friendship links and community membership on LiveJournal, and co-authorship and conference publications in DBLP. Both of these datasets provide explicit user-defined communities, where conferences serve as proxies for communities in DBLP. We study how the evolution of these communities relates to properties such as the structure of the underlying social networks. We find that the propensity of individuals to join communities, and of communities to grow rapidly, depends in subtle ways on the underlying network structure. For example, the tendency of an individual to join a community is influenced not just by the number of friends he or she has within the community, but also crucially by how those friends are

"... This paper provides an analysis of aggregate behavioral outcomes when individual utility exhibits social interaction effects. We study generalized logistic models of individual choice which incorporate terms reflecting the desire of individuals to conform to the behavior of others in an environment ..."

This paper provides an analysis of aggregate behavioral outcomes when individual utility exhibits social interaction effects. We study generalized logistic models of individual choice which incorporate terms reflecting the desire of individuals to conform to the behavior of others in an environment of noncooperative decisionmaking. Laws of large numbers are generated in such environments. Multiplicity of

"... This is a review of argument and evidence on the connection between social networks and social capital. My summary points are three: (1) Research and theory will better cumulate across studies if we focus on the network mechanisms responsible for social capital effects rather than trying to integrat ..."

This is a review of argument and evidence on the connection between social networks and social capital. My summary points are three: (1) Research and theory will better cumulate across studies if we focus on the network mechanisms responsible for social capital effects rather than trying to integrate across metaphors of social capital loosely tied to distant empirical indicators. (2) There is an impressive diversity of empirical evidence showing that social capital is more a function of brokerage across structural holes than closure within a network, but there are contingency factors. (3) The two leading network mechanisms can be brought together in a productive way within a more general model of social capital Structural holes are the source of value added, but network closure can be essential to realizing the value buried in the holes.